Query-reply signal processing apparatus



06f 26, 1965 E. A. AvAKlAN ETAL 3,214,520

QUERY-REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS Original Filed March 9, 1959 8Sheets-Sheet 1 @CL 26, 1965 E. A. AvAKlAN ETAL. 3,214,520

QUERY-'REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original FiledMarch 9, 1959 u n: m

INVENTORS E. A. AVAKIAN R. J. BUEGLER BY ATTORNEY TO FIG.

READ WITH NO INVERSE LAST SAMPLE UCL 26 1955 E. A. AVAKIAN ETAL3,214,520

QUERY-REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS READ WITH INVERSE DIAL BITRECORD CIRCUIT Di (D IDLE COUNT A DIGIT COUNT A PRESENT AND FOURTJHLDIGIT INVENTORS IO E.A. AVAKIAN R. J. BUEGLER ATTORNEY CL 26, 1965 E AAVAK|AN ETAL 3,214,520

QUERY-'REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original FiledMarch 9, 1959 Oct, 25, 1965 E. A. AVAKIAN ETAL 3,214,520

QUERY-REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original FiledMarch 9, 1959 w .GE

@CL 26, 1955 E. A. AVAKIAN ETAL 3,214,520

QUERY-REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS Original Filed March 9, 1959 8Sheets-Sheet 6 humm...

ATTORNEY ct. 26, 1965 E A. AVAKIAN ETAL 3,214,520

QUERY-REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS Original Filed March 9, 1959 8Sheets-Sheet '7 ATTORNEY E. A. AVAKIAN ETAL QUERY-REPLY SIGNALPROCESSING APPARATUS Original Filed March 9, 1959 FIG.I8

FIGJT 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 E.A. AVAKIAN R. J BUEGLER ATTORNEY United StatesPatent Oft-ice 3,214,520 QUERY-REPLY SIGNAL PROCESSING APPARATUS Emil(A. Avakian, Crestwood, N.Y., and Robert I.

Buegler, Stamford, Conn., assignors to The Teleregister Corporation,Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Original application Mar. 9,1959, Ser. No. 798,005, now Patent No. 3,133,268, dated May 12, 1964.Divided `and this application `luly 9, 1963, Ser. No. 293,613

17 Claims. (Cl. 179-1) The present invention relates to signalprocessing apparatus. More in particular, this invention relates toapparatus adapted to produce audio messages in the form of a series ofspoken words, e.g. is response to a query message from a remote station.This application is a divisional of copending application Serial No.798,005, tiled on March 9, 1959, now Patent Number 3,133,268.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a query and reply system wherein a plurality of queries orrequests for the same and/or different parts or sections of the storeddata are handled simultaneously and/ or in an overlapping relationshipand wherein the replies to the queries are similarly made. In accordancewith another aspect of the invention, data processing equipment isarranged to control an audio storage device in such a manner that replymessages are generated in the form of a series of spoken words. Thespecic apparatus disclosed comprises means responding to a query messageconsisting of a predetermined number of digit representing dial pulses.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a data storage andquery system capable of providing for a large number of separate queryinputs, such as up to a thousand, and a like number of associated audiooutputs with a query over any one input being answered over itsspecically associated audio output.

A feature of the invention in this respect is the ability of the systemto handle the queries at a relatively high rate such as from thirty toone hundred or more per second with substantially no waiting timerequired for access to the storage data.

Another feature of the invention resides in its adaptability to aninstallation where the terminals of the input and output circuits areremote from the data storage unit and are connected thereto oversuitable electrical circuits.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel data storageand query system having the above outlined objects and features andemploying a minimum amount of equipment at the centrally located datastorage unit as well as at the remote terminals of the input and outputcircuits.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a datastorage system wherein audio replies are made in response to keyboard,dial, and/ or keyset generated inquiry pulses. In this embodiment of theinvention the audio replies are assembled from pre-recorded Words and/orphrases in accordance with the stored information selected by theinquiry pulses.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a system of theabove general type wherein messages can be independently assembled inresponse to analogue variations in the parameters of a process or systemsuch as a ground to air control system or an industrial process eitherlocally or remotely.

The above and further features and objects of the present invention willbe more apparent in the following detailed description of the preferredand one modified embodiment of the invention wherein reference is madeto the accompanying drawings, in the latter of which:

3,214,520 Patented Oct. 26, 1965 FIG. 1 is a block diagram of thepreferred embodiment of the system comprising the present inventionshowing the arrangement of Various components of the invention andindicating the cooperation therebetween;

FIGS. 2 and 3 comprise a block diagram of the elea ments of the queryinput logic circuit employed in the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic showing of some of the components of themodiiied embodiment of the invention wherein audio outputs are assembledin response to query inputs;

FIG. 5 is a showing of some of the elements of a subscribers inputcircuit;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the comparing circuits;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the translation registers employed as codeexpansion units;

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram of a matrix employed in the system;

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of the controls of a pair of steppingswitches;

FIG. 10 is a layout of the main storage drum;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of certain components of the outputmultiplexer; and

FIGS. 12 to 18 are circuit diagrams of various control or plug-in unitsemployed in the system.

The principles of the present invention will be described for thepurposes of illustration in the manner in which they may be applied to astock quotation system, and it will be obvious that the invention is inno way limited to this particular application but may readily be appliedto various types of inventory query systems such as, for example, asystem wherein replies are assembled in response to analogue variationsin the parameters of a process or system.

In the described application of the invention to a stock quotationsystem, a storage means, such as a magnetic drum which is referred tohereinafter as the main storage drum, is employed. The drum contains theup-to-date information, such as the current bid and asked price, priceof last sale, etc. of the stocks selected for listing. In the preferredembodiment of the invention this information is stored in such a mannerthat it is adapted to control the generation of signals capable ofoperating the conventional type of start-stop telegraph recorder whereasin the modied embodiment the information is stored in such a manner asto control the audio reproduction of the desired information fromselected pre-recorded words and phrases. As shown in the drawings, eachsubscriber to the quotation system in both embodiments is provided witha telephone type dial and when a subscriber desires informationregarding a stock, he dials a plural digit number representing theparticular stock. It will be obvious, however, that keysets can beemployed equally well as the input device. At the central storagelocation the dial pulses are received and control the assembling of theinformation relating to the stock number dialed and the transmitting ofthis information back to the subscriber requesting it. With the audioreply arrangement the information is assembled from prerecorded wordswhich the subscriber may hear through the receiver part of his telephonewhereas when the replies are start-stop telegraph signals they arerecorded by a teletypwriter at the subscribers oiice. It is entirelywithin the concept of the present invention to provide a combination ofan audio and teletypewriter system where the particular numbers dialeddetermine the type of reply obtained.

Each subscriber or query station may be connected to the central storagelocation by two pairs of circuit conductors, one pair for querying thestorage and the second pair of receiving the reply, or by a single pairto conduct both the query and reply. However, as described herein, eachsubscriber has a single circuit input or query line and a single circuitanswer, reply or output line with a common ground return.

As hereinbefore pointed out, a main storage magnetic drum is employed tocontain the up-to-date stock information, and associated with the mainstorage drum is a second magnetic drum which is called a query drum. Thetwo drums are conventional type magnetic drums with the recirculatingregister type read-write heads and rotate at asynchronous speeds withrespect to one another. The query drum has so-called subscribers bins orslots for each subscriber, with each bin comprising a bit from apredetermined number of tracks of the drum in an arrangement more fullydescribed hereinafter. With a plurality of bins for each subscriber therate of transmitting to a subscriber may be greater for a given speed ofrotation of the drum than with a single bin per subscriber. In thefollowing it will be assumed that the query drum provides for 1024subscribers and accordingly has a like number of bins. The query drumalso has tracks arranged to generate a clock pulse at the beginning ofevery 1024 count and a query bin clock pulse for every bin on the drum.Associated with the two drums are a number of control circuits andunits, and in order to simplify the disclosure, these control circuitsand units, many of which may be of conventional design, are referred toin terms indicative of the function or functions performed thereby. Inaddition, for the purpose of simplifying the disclosure, the drawingsfor the most part are diagrammatic or block diagrams with the variouscontrol circuits and units shown as interconnected elements. One of thefeatures of the design of the circuits of the present invention is thearrangement whereby a large number of the units or parts thereof are ofthe plug-in variety which greatly facilitates the construction andservicing of the system. The details of the circuits of some of theunits, however, are shown in separate gures where such is thoughtdesirable or helpful for a complete understanding of the manner ofoperation of the unit.

The query or input lines from the subscribers terminate at the centrallocation in a so-called input multiplexer indicated by reference numeral11, FIG. 1, and the sending lines to the subscribers originate at aso-called output multiplexer 12. The details of sections or stages ofthe input multiplexer 11 are shown in FIG. 5 as well as the equipment ata subscribers ofce. This equipment may include a conventional typetelephone having a receiver 13, a hook switch 14, dial contacts 16, anda dial click muting switch 17 together with a start-stop typeteletypewriter 18. When the associated dial is generating dial pulses byopening and closing the line circuit, the dial click muting contacts 17are closed. The dial pulses are transmitted over the query line 19 tothe central location where they operate a relay 21. When the reply to aquery is to be received on the teletypewriter 18, a switch (not shown)on the dial mechanism switches the teletypewriter to ground whiledialing, and after dialing the switch operates to break this ground. Inan audio reply system, the reply would be received over the telephonereceiver 13.

The relay 21 has a grounded tongue 22 with a make contact connected tothe static line 23 of a digit setter 24. The digit setter 24 is an andgate and a plus pulse input on input lead 26 causes current to be drawnon output lead 27 if the static line 23 is high. The relay 21 whenoperated also completes a circuit between the teletypewriter 18 and alead 20 over which start-stop teletypewriter signals are received. Thedigit setter may have a circuit such as shown in FIG. 12.

The relay 21 follows pulses generated by the dial contacts 16 and it inturn pulses the digit setter 24. The output line 27 of the digit setter24 feeds into a digit register 28 which is essentially a ip-flop soarranged that a pulse on input lead 29 drives the flip-flop to a one orzero state depending on the voltage level on the static input lead 31. Apulse into the digit register on reset lead 32 resets the same and theoutput lead 33 forms the static input lead of the digit register of thenext stage. The circuit details of a digit register such as 28 are shownin FIG. 13.

The digit registers, such as 28, one for each subscriber to the system,form a shift register which operates in the manner hereinafter setforth. In normal operation the query drum, FIG. 1, which has a query binclock 36, sends a clock pulse over lead 32 to the shift register of theinput multiplexer 11 at every 1024 count. The 1024 count corresponds tothe possible number of subscribers and is chosen as a matter ofconvenience. As will appear, other counts could be employed if desired.The shift or clock pulse resets the digit registers 28 of the entireshift register, and after a delay caused by a delay circuit 37, the sameclock pulse is applied over leads 26 to all the digit Setters 24. Theindividual digit Setters 24 in response to this pulse set respectivelyassociated digit registers 28 in accordance with the state of itsrespective dial contacts at that particular time. The setting of thedigit register 28 requires only a few microseconds, and since the binclock is assumed to pulse at the rate of approximately 50,000 pulses persecond, the digit registers are all set before the trst bin clock pulsearrives.

There is a bin clock pulse for each subscribers bin on the query drum,and as these pulses are applied to the shift register over leads 29,each stage of the register shifts its bits or conditions to the nextadjacent stage or one stage to the right, as shown in FIG. 5. Thus thecondition of all the subscriber dials registered at the time of the last1024 count pulse is represented by a series of pulses obtained from theoutput of the last stage of the shift register. These pulses are appliedto what is called a query input logic circuit 38, FIG. l, which is shownin more detail in FIGS. 2 and 3. The rotative speed of the query drumand the number of sets of subscribers bins thereon are such that fornormal dial pulses of approximately ten per second, the condition ofeach subscribers dial is sampled several times per change. Since theinput multiplexer shift register may have as many stages as there arebins on the query drum, and since the bin clock causes the register toshift, there is complete synchronization between the query drum and theinput multiplexer.

The query drum 34, as stated, has a plurality of tracks around theperiphery thereof and read-write heads are associated and individual toeach such track. In addition to the bin clock or count track, there areothers identified by alphabetical characters. Each of the latter tracksor groups thereof are assigned functions as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3,and their purpose will more fully be set forth hereinafter. On theassumption that there are 1024 subscribers to the system, a 10-bitcounter 39, FIG. 1, operated from the query drum bin clock provides asynchronizing pulse at each 1024 count. With such an arrangement therewill be 1024 bits in each track, but since the read heads 41 and thewrite heads 42 of the query drum are separated by a distance equivalentto at least 32 bits, and allowing for the two bits underneath the heads,the drum has an area of 31 bits along its circumference on which thereare no recordings. In operation of the drum a bit is always rewrittenone clock or pulse time after it has been sampled, and as the drumrotates, a given bit is always precessed around the drum periphery eachtime it is sampled and rewritten.

The query input logic circuit 38 is connected between the read and writeheads and the bits detected by the read heads reside in circuit 38 forone clock pulse. The total number of clock pulses must take account ofthe 1024 bits of information and the 32 bits of blank space and oneadditional clock pulse for the input logic circuit during which anyparticular bit is in the logic circuit. This gives a total of 105'5clock pulses per revolution of the query drum or 1024 plus 32 minus 1.

In general terms the function of the query input logic circuit 38 is totake the serial output from the last stage of the shift register of theinput multiplexer 11 and gather the outputs so that the sampledcondition of each subscriber is registered in the subscriber bin of thequery drum assigned or designated for that subscriber. The logic circuit38 must further manipulate the bits of respective subscribers in such amanner that when a subscriber has completed a dialing operation, theparticular subscribers bin will have recorded therein the number dialedby that subscriber. The decimal digits dialed by each subscriber andreceived at the input multiplexer 11 are converted by the query inputlogic circuit 38 and the query drum 34 into binary digits. Following theoperation of the logic circuit on the dial decimal digits, a register43, called the query head register, is filled with binary digits whichin turn in part determine the particular storage or segment of theinventory being requested. The main storage drum 44, FIG. 1, includes asection 44a having a plurality of storage tracks, a transmission section44b having a plurality of transmission tracks, a main drum bin clocktrack 44C and a main drum read clock track 44d.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 showing the detailed arrangement of theelements of the query input logic 38, it will be noted that this circuitis divided into a number of vertical sections with each section havingan assigned function as indicated, such as last sample, dial activity,idle count, etc., and containing one or more reading heads 41 and one ormore writing heads 42 with associated control units. The control unitsassociated with the read head 41 of the rst right hand section which isidentiied as the last sample or B section include a pair of readamplifiers 46, a digit register 48 and an inverter 49.

A group of such control units is herein termed a read with inverse or RIreading package. The digit registers 48 of these units are set by aninput pulse on the sync-zero lead, and by use of the inverter 49, twooutputs of the head are obtained, one the inverse of the other. Thesetwo outputs are identified, for purposes hereinafter apparent, one by acapital letter and the other by a prime of the capital letter. Forexample, the last sample or B read section has two outputs B and B' andthe arrangement of the writing package is such that when a "1 is read bythe head 41, the B output is positive and B' negative, and when a "0 isread, output B is negative and B positive. As indicated in FIGS. 2 and3, reading head units B, U, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, I, T, V and W, or thoseincluded in the last sample dial activity, idle count, digit count,present and fourth digit, load indicator, read-out mark and fifth digitor error sections have inverse as well as direct outputs. The K, L, M,N, O, P, Q, R, S reading head units or those included in the thirddigit, second digit, first digit and Y generator sections have noinverter included in their control unit group. These latter units aretermed read with no inverse or RNI reading packages and have but oneoutput identified by its respective capital letter. Circuit details ofthe digit register 48 of the reading packages are shown in FIG. 14 andthe other units are of well known and/ or conventional design.

Each vertical functional section of FIGS. 2 and 3 has a bit recordcircuit or BRC writing package for each reading package and each Writingpackage includes in addition to the write head 4Z a record pulse Shaper51, an either ygate static 52, a record polarity gate 53, and a writeampliiier 54. Details of the circuits of units 52 and 53 and theinterconnecting arrangement are shown and indicated in FIGS. 15 and 16,respectively.

The either gate static 52 of the last sample section has an inputcontrol lead b1 connected to the sync, zero plus one lead 5'7, a signallead b2 connected to lead 56 or the A lead over which is received theserial output from the input multiplexer representing the subscribersdial conditions, a signal lead b3 connected to the B output of theassociated read package and an output lead b. The gate 52 functions topass the signal on lead b3 to output lead b when control lead b1 ispositive and to pass the signal on lead b2 to the output lead whencontrol lead bl is negative. The three leads b1, b2 and b3 form theinputs to the B write package composed of units 51, 52, 53 and 54, andall of the other write packages or bit record circuits of the read-writeassemblies have corresponding control, input and output leads.

The leads such as b1 going into the bit record circuits act as controlleads and generally when such leads are positive, any signal being readby the respective read head 4of its read package will be recorded 'bythe respective write head. If, however, such a control lead is minus thebit read will be changed according to the logic unit associated with aninput lead such as b2. The state of such a control lead as b2 isdetermined by a second logic unit associated with that Write circuit.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, each of t-he inputs to all Ibut the lastsample write packages have a pair of logic units 58 for combining toinputs thereto. Also as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, some of -the readpackages such as those of the rst digit, second digit, third digit, andpresent land fourth digit sections each have a digit register 61 and acathode follower lockout 62 associated therewith together with shiftpulse Shapers 63 and a gate RC delay 64 connected as shown. The digitregisters 61 form a shift register called a query register, indicated as61R, FIG. 1.

The conditions which cause respective ls to be recorded in a particulartrack, using conventional Boolean notations are:

b3=B Last Sample (B) b2=A bl=Minus u3=A Dial Activity (U) u2=Uu1=AU-l-CDE Idle Count:

(C) c2=Minus c1=A UE d3=D (D) d2=ADU d1=A CU e3=D (E) e2=lVIinus e1=ACDU Digit Count:

(F) j2=FT f1=o'D'E g3= G (G) g2=GT g1=CDEF Present or 4th Digit;

h3=HU (H) h2=H lt1=AIJB|-AU (I) i2=I i1=ABH-l-AU j3=J'U (J) j2=J'1=ABHI+AU 3rd Digit (K) k2=K k1=CD EFG (L) Z2=L l1=CD EFG m3=I (M) m2=Mm1=CDEFG 2nd Digit (N) n2=N n1=ICDEFG' (O) o2=O ol--CD'EFG p1=CDEFGDialing and ylling of query bin There is complete synchronism betweenthe query drum bin clock and the input multiplexer, and the readingheads 41 are so positioned that they are just coming into registry witha particular subscribers bin at the particular instant a pulse orno-pulse condition representing the condition of that subscribers dialis received at the logic unit over lead A. Thus the condition of eachsubscribers dial is sampled in turn lonce for each 1024 bin clockpulses.

Let it first be assumed that a particular subscribers dial is inactive,resulting in minus sampling pulses which are recorded as Os in the lastsample or B track on the query drum and that this condition has existedfor some time so that this subscribers bin is empty. It will beunderstood in the following that when reference is made to the varioustracks on the query drum and the recordings therein, it is theparticular bit or recording position in the track associated with thebin assigned to the particular subscriber under discussion that isindicated and not the complete track.

Now let it be assumed that the subscriber begins to dial and that latthe next sampling of that subscriber the A lead is positive. This willresult in a l being recorded by the write head 42 in the B track of thatsubscriber. Thus the B or last sample track registers the last sampledcondition of the respective subscriber. The speed of rotation of thequery drum is such, say 40 revolutions per second, relative to the rateof the dial pulses, say 10 pulses per second, that each change in thedial condition is sarnpled at least twice.

The first positive pulse or first sample resulting in a l being recordedin the B track will also result in a l being recorded under the U ordial activity track in the same subscribers bin since in accordance withthe above formulas the conditions under which a l is recorded in the Uor dial activity track are fully satisfied. Thus as the B trackregisters the last sampled condition of a subscribers dial, the U trackregisters that a digit is being dialed and for reasons hereinafterapparent, this l will remain in the U track a predetermined length oftime after the particular digit being dialed has completed pulsing thesubscribers circuit.

The C, D and E tracks are employed to count the idle revolutions of thequery drum or the number of revolutions in which there is no change inthe particular subscribers dial. With the drum rotating at the rate of40 revolutions per second and the dial operating at the rate of 10pulses per second, tracks C, D and E will have a binary count of 2between each pulse. However, the dial pulsing rate can vary considerablyin the preferred embodiment of the invention as described herein withoutcausing misoperation. In accordance with the given formulas wherebyrespective ls are caused to be recorded in the C, D and E tracks, .itcan be assumed that when a binary count of 4 lis reached in the C, D andE tracks, the subscribers dial has reached the end of a given 8 digit.Thus these three tracks C, D and E are referred to as the idle counttracks.

In the system herein described it is assumed that each request for apiece of information such as the details regarding a stock is made bythe subscriber dialing a 4- digit number and that the digits are dialedin the usual .manner with a -pause but without extended periods of timebetween the digit dialing operations.

During the dialing of the first digit the formulas relating to recordingin the present or 4th digit tracks, H, I and I are satisfied andaccordingly the first digit is registered in these tracks. After thedialing of the first digit and before the beginning of the dialing ofthe second digit, the idle count tracks will have reached a binary countof 4 and each time such an idle count is made, a count is placed in thedigit count tracks F and G. The first count placed in the F and G trackscauses the digit registered in the H, I and I tracks to be shifted tothe first digit tracks Q, R and S. This registered digit thus becomesthe first digit of the final query. The above and further operations areall in accordance with the satisfying of the conditions set forth in theformulas with respect to the particular tracks.

Following the shifting of the first digit to tracks Q, R and S, the dialpulses representing the second digit are received and, as in the above,these are registered on tracks H, I and J. At the end of this digit theidle count begins again and when the idle count reaches 4, a secondcount is placed in the digit count tracks F and G. This shifts thecontents of the H, I and I tracks to the second digit tracks, N, O andP. Thus the second digit of the final query is registered. In a similarmanner the third digit is first registered in tracks H, I and I and anidle count of 4 thereafter places a third count in the F and G trackswhich transfers this digit to the third digit track K, L and M. Next thefourth and final digit is registered in the H, I and J tracks and on thecompletion of the idle count thereafter and the placing of the fourthcount in the F and G tracks a mark is placed in the load indicator trackT signifying a loaded query drum condition. Subsequently as hereinafterapparent the Z lead is positive and this indicates that the four digitsregistered in the four-digit track H to S can be unloaded into theirrespective digit registers 61 forming the query register 61R.

In addition to the above described tracks, the query drum also includesa fifth digit or error track W, a Y-generator track Y, and a readoutmark track V. As will become more apparent hereinafter, the V trackmarks the order in which the individual subscribers bins that are loadedshould be dumped or transferred into the query register 61R. In otherwords, the V track serves as a sequencer since it determines thesequence of unloading the subscribers bins.

The W track marks an error made by a subscriber dialing more than fourdigits. In such an event a particular code is automatically put into thequery register 61R whereby the register seeks out a storage marked errorindication in the storage tracks of the storage drum 44 which in turncauses the transmission to that particular subscriber of a messageindicating the error condition. The message may -be a phrase such asdial again andwill be composed of either start-stop pulses or audiblesignals depending upon the type of system. In addition to the aboveerror or fifth digit detecting arrangement a logic circuit is providedfor detecting the dialing of numbers for which there is no storedinformation. This circuit operates from the digit reading heads Hthrough S .and when it detects such a number it prevents this numberfrom registering in the query register and instead on each such occasionwill put into the query register G1R a predetermined number which willcause the head selection circuits to select a storage whereby anappropriate message, such as wrong number, dial again is transmitted tothe particular subscriber, again in either startstop or audible signals.This specific logic circuit employed may include a series of diodes suchas those shown lin FIG. 8 arranged to detect the abnormal condition.

Priority in unloading subscribers bins The subscribers bins are filledin an entirely random or non-selective order and it is highly desirablethat all subscribers be given equal access to the storage so that aparticular subscriber with a loaded bin will not be kept Waitingindefinitely while other subscribers whose bins are more favorablydistributed on the query drum are served. The circuits for assuringequal access of all subscribers to the storage are diagrammaticallyindicated in the left hand section of FIG. 2 and involve a number of thequery drum tracks. Whenever a query drum bin is loaded or a mark in theT track is read, and at the same time the query register 61R is notloaded, this condition is indicated by the Z lead being positive as wellas key lead Y being positive. These conditions generate a level Xcausing the digits stored in the I-I to S tracks to be loaded into thequery register. At this time the formula or equation v1=X-}-ZYT will besatisfied and the very next loaded bin that comes under the readingheads 41, which condition is indicated by a mark in its T track, willsatisfy the formula or equation v3=XT. Thus a 1 will be placed in the Vtrack of the next loaded bin. Only one subscribers bin at a time canhave a 1 in the V track and the bin having this 1 will be the next oneto be unloaded. The V track of a loaded bin is marked only when there isa positive level on the Y lead, and it is made positive whenever a binis unloaded. With the above arrangement whenever a number of differentbins become loaded during a single revolution of the query drum, theunloading of the bins is in such a manner as to precess the unloadingoperations around the drum in the direction of its rotation.

When power is rst turned on the system such as at the beginning of theday, there obviously has not been a bin unloading operation and hence aY signal can not be generated in the usual manner. Accordingly,provision for generating a Y under these conditions must be made.

As shown in FIG. 2, a set-reset-fiip-fiop 66 is arranged to generate anoutput once each 1024 count, and this output is applied through a gateRC delay 67 and a cathode follower lockout 68 to a secondset-reset-flip-flop 69. The output of the second set-resetipflop 69 isthe Y output and such a Y output is generated during certain revolutionsof the query drum such as the first one of the day. If, however, duringthat revolution of the query drum, when a Y would otherwise begenerated, a V is produced, the positive level on the Y lead will beremoved. The V condition is applied through gate RC delay 71 to theflip-flop 66 and if a ZTY condition exists during such a revolution,this condition applied through another gate RC delay 72 also cuts offthe Y output. Neither a V nor a ZTY exist at the beginning of the day,as there has been no bin unloaded to bring about a V. Likewise the Z isnot primed as the query register will be in an unloaded condition.Accordingly, at the beginning of the day the first complete revolutionof the query drum will generate a Y and after this first revolution a Vcan be put after the first loaded bin as there will be a Y. As soon asan X is generated, the Y is regenerated by circuitry including the logicunit 72. The Z lead assures that a bin will not be unloaded until a Z isgenerated or that there is an empty query register. The circuit detailsof the unit 66 is shown in FIG. 17.

Main storage drum details In the embodiment of the invention disclosedherein the storage section 44a of the storage drum 44 or the partcontaining or upon which the information is stored, such as stockquotations or any other type of inventory information that a subscribermay request, is divided into sectors about the periphery thereof. Eachsector contains a part of the storage tracks and in the embodimentdisclosed there are 25 sectors and approximately 40 tracks with the partof a track in each sector containing 200 bits of information. Such anarrangement provides sufcient storage to accommodate the desiredinformation relating to up to 1000 different stocks. It will be obvious,however, that the above arrangement of the storage tracks is onlyillustrative and that numerous other arrangements can readily be made toaccommodate various conditions. The stored information can be put on thestorage drum and kept up-to-date in the conventional manner, such as forexample in accordance with the disclosure of U.S. Patents Nos. 2,800,642and 2,594,960 of H. F. May.

When it is desired to read-out a piece of stored information, theread-out head for that track and the particular sector containing theinformation must be selected. The sector selection is performed by aquery sector register made up of a number of the hereinbefore describeddigit registers 61 associated with the query drum heads H to S, and theproper read-out head is selected under control of other ones of thedigit registers 61. When the proper head and sector selection is made,the selected information is read into the register 76, FIG. 1.

The sector selection is made by counting the various sectors as theypass under the read-out heads, and when the proper one is in registrywith the heads a pulse is sent to the head selection circuits to causeread-out into register 76. The details of the counting arrangement areshown in FIG. 6 with a shift register composed of a number of digitregisters 61 with a individually associated comparator units 77 andcounter units 78 forming a counter. A serial input is applied to thefirst or uppermost digit register which is caused to shift downward bythe query bin clock pulses. After the digit registers are set, thecounter starts counting as bin clock pulses are fed into the same.Subsequently all the comparator units 77 will register that thecondition of each digit register 6l. and its corresponding counter unit7S coincide. This condition will cause non-conduction of current in thecommon lead 79 to the comparator terminator 81 and result in an outputon lead 82 and thus indicate the similar states of the digit registers61 and corresponding counters 73. The details of a comparator unit 77and the comparator terminator 81 are shown in FIGS. 18 and 19,respectively.

Translalion and expansion of stored signals to teletypewriter controlsignals It is more efficient to store in the form of four bits or pulsesper unit in the storage tracks of the storage section 44a of the mainstorage drum, and in order for these stored bits to operate theconventional type of teletypewriter, an expansion or translation of thestored bits to five bits per unit is necessary. Also, for properoperation of the system certain code groups, such as those controllingprinter functions, must be injected into or added to the signals takenfrom the storage tracks and sent to the subscriber to control theteletypewriter thereat. The arrangement for accomplishing the expansionis illustrated in FIG. 7, and the following explanaton refers to thisfigure and to FIG. 1.

The readout from the storage tracks 44a is dumped serially into theregister 76, as pointed out above, and connected to the various stages`of the register 76 is a logic unit 82. composed of a plurality of diodematrixes. One such matrix is shown in FIG. 8 and the output from eachmatrix forms the input to an associated stage of a socalled translatedanswer register 83.

The expanded translated answer register 83 is recirculated by lead tobring the same into line with the reading head which is at that timetransmitting to the output multiplexer 12. The comparator 84 samples thecondition of a pair of stepping switches 85-E and 85-0 arranged as inFIG. 9, which indicate which one of the heads of the transmission tracks44b is being read at the moment.

1 1 The above-mentioned recirculation begins by units of 5 stages. Eachtime the 5 units are shifted there is a change in the counter 86, asevery time counter 87 counts 5 shifts, the counter 87 pulses counter 86.The counting continues until the stages of counter 86 are similar to theleads from the stepping switches 85. When this occurs the message inregister 83 is properly aligned with the reading head and therefore whenthe characters in register 83 are recorded on the transmission tracks,the subscriber requesting this message will have the message start atthe next character transmission.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention a track of the query drum34 has less than one-fifth the number of bits therein as there are in atrack of the main storage drum 44, or the query drum is substantiallyone-fifth the diameter of the main drum. The part of the main storagedrum 44 containing the transmission tracks 44b is divided into 5segments and each subscriber is assigned a bin or slot in each one ofthese five segments. The order of assignment of the subscribers bins isthe same in each segment and corresponds to the order of assignment ofthe bins in the query drum. By this arrangement a subscribers bin in anysegment on the main drum can be located by noting the count position onthe query drum of a particular subscriber and counting the slots on asegment of the main drum until the counts correspond.

The subscriber bin register 88, FIG. 1, controls the recording of amessage in the correct subscriber bins of the sectors of thetransmission track 44h. Register 88 is loaded by the query drum 34. Thisloading occurs when the query register 61R is loaded by loading thequery subscriber bin counter 39 into the subscriber bin register 88. Themain drum bin count 95 from track 44e is then compared with thesubscriber bin register and when these counts coincide, one of the fivebits of each character is recorded. Each time this occurs the register83 is shifted one stage so that when the next bin count again coincides,the next bit of each character can be recorded. Such comparing andrecording continues for the ve bits of all the characters.

Construction of teletypewriter control signals The conventionalteletypewriter operates under the control of code groups of veintelligence pulses with each such group preceded by a start pulse andterminated by a rest pulse. As pointed out above, the characters fromwhich a message to a subscriber is assembled, are stored in only thefive intelligence pulses and the rest and start pulses must be injectedinto the code groups for proper operation of the subscribersteletypewriter. The circuits whereby this is accomplished are includedin the dotted rectangle 89, FIG. l, and the operation thereof will nowbe described. Reference at this point is also made to FIG. which showssome of the details of the main storage drum layout which includes fivesegments with each segment containing 1024 bits in each transmissiontrack thereof. As in the usual arrangement, the revolution clock track44d has a single bit and the bin clock track 44C has a total of 5120bits or 1024 bits for each segment.

Pulses from the bin clock 44c track are fed through a matrix gate 91 toa ten-stage counter 92 which produces an output pulse for each 1024pulse input. The output of counter 92 is fed through a digit register 93to a 14- stage register 94 which operates as a ring counter andsequentially pulses its 14 output leads once for each 14 input pulses.

The revolution clock track 44d assures synchronization in the circuitsand a digit register 96 which is being set and reset and in turn allowsthe bin count to go through the gate 91. Digit register 96 is alsopulsed through a delay multivibrator 97 by count pulses 5, 10 and 15from ring counter 94.

As shown in FIG. 10, the five segments of the transmission tracks do notoccupy the entire drum surface and there is a small empty area from theend of the fifth segment to the start of the first. This gives the gate91 time to be shut off and turned on again by the revolution clock.Also, as will be noted in FIG. l, sync H pulses, which are from thebasic clock of the system, are applied to the digit registers 93 and 96and the counter 94.

One of the read-out heads associated with the transmission tracks 44bwill be selected at a time by the rotary switches of FIG. 9 included inthe head selector 90, FIG. 1, and the signals picked up by the selectedhead and amplified by the single read amplifier 99 are gated by thematrix gate 101 before going to the output multiplexer 12. The gate 101permits, as will be apparent hereinafter, the signals from the segmentsof the track with which the selected head is associated to go in apredetermined order to the output multiplexer 12. The output multiplexerincludes, as shown in FIG. l1, a plurality of digit registers 102forming a shift register to which the signal output from the selectedread-Out head, as gated by the gate 101, is applied and to which thesync H pulse is also applied. The individual outputs of the digitregister 102 are applied to associated digit registers 103 to which overlead 111 the output shift or set pulse is also applied. The outputs ofthe digit registers 103 are applied through individually associatedcathode follower lockouts 104 to respective relay pullers 106controlling respective polar relays 107. The cathode follower lockouts104 also have stop signal generator pulses applied thereto.

Each character track on the transmission track section is read by itsrespective head for three consecutive revolutions of the main drum inorder that the five bits of a character, distributed in the fivesegments of the track, be properly transmitted to a subscriber. Themethod in which the segments are selected will now be set forth and itwill be assumed that the first character track of the transmissiontracks is being read and that the 10- stage counter 92 and the l4stagering counter 94 have both been set to 0. At the start of this revolutiona pulse from the main drum revolution clock sets the digit register 96,which allows the bin counts to go through gate 91 and be gated into thecounter 92. As will be more apparent hereinafter, the period in whichthe first segment is being read corresponds to or would normally occurduring the last third of the stop pulse or bit of the last charactersent to the particular subscriber when a seven and a half unit code isemployed. Similarly, while the second and third segments are being read,the start bit or pulse for the character to be transmitted is generated,as will be pointed out.

At the end of reading the 1024 bits of the first segment, the counter 92pulses the counter 94 resulting in a potential being applied to itsnumber "1 lead and at the end of reading the second segment and duringthe reading of the third segment the number 2 lead from the ring counter94 has a potential applied thereto. This lead, identified by referencenumeral 108, FIG. 1, is the control lead for gate 101 and via this leadthe gate is opened during reading of the third segment of the storagedrum. Accordingly, the first bit of the character being received by allsubscribers receiving a message is put into the digit register 102 ofthe output multiplexer 12. The potential of lead 108 is also applied tothe delay gate 109 and its output pulse occurring at the beginning ofthe reading of the fourth segment, applied over the output shift pulselead 111 to the digit register 103, causes the information in the stagesthereof to be shifted parallelly to the relay pullers 106. This shiftingof all the bits across from the shift register to the relay pullersoccurs in an interval of micro-seconds.

During the reading of the fourth segment of the drum the number "3 leadfrom the counter has potential applied thereto and it, through suitableand conventional circuitry, causes the relay pullers 106 to operate therelays 107 in accordance with the setting of corresponding digitregisters 103 and thus transmit the message bits to the subscribers.This rst intelligence bit is transmitted to the subscribers while thefourth and fifth segments are being read.

While the fth segment of the main drum is being read, lead 108 again haspotential applied to it and again opens the gate 101 which permits thesecond message bit to be put into the shift register 102 in the samemanner as the first bit was put into the register during the reading ofthe third segment. At the end of reading the fifth segment or whilereading the first segment of the second revolution, the delay gate 109applies another pulse over lead 111 to the register to cause it to shiftthe second bit information stored therein parallelly to the digitregisters 103. Subsequently this information is transferred to the relaypullers 106 for operating the polar relays 107 accordingly to transmitthe second bit to the subscribers. This second intelligence bit of themessage is transmitted to the subscriber during the reading of the firstand second segments of the second revolution of the drum.

Similarly the gate 91 is again controlled by the digit register 96 topermit the third message bit to be put through the described circuitryinto the register 102 during the reading of the second segment of thesecond revo- -lution and subsequently transmitted to the subscribersduring the second revolution reading of the third and fourth segments.Likewise the fourth and fifth message bits are put into the register 102during the second revolution reading of the fourth segment and the thirdreading of the first segment and are transmitted to the subscribersduring the second revolution reading of the fifth and the thirdrevolution reading of the first segments, and the third revolutionreading of the second and third segments respectively. Thus the timeconsumed to transmit to the subscribers the last third of the stop pulseof the previous character and the five teletypewriter controllingintelligence pulses corresponds to two and three-fifths revolutions ofthe main drum.

The five intelligence pulses are followed by a stop signal and the firsttwo-thirds of it are generated during the third revolution reading ofthe fourth and fifth segments, with the last third being generatedduring the reading of the first segment for the next character. Thecircuitry for generating the stop pulse includes a counter 113 which ispulsed by a number 14 lead of the counter 94 during the third reading ofthe fifth segment of the main drum. The counter 113 has an output lead115 which is pulsed at the count of l or at the end of the thirdrevolution. This pulse is applied to a delay multivibrator 110 togenerate a reset signal which resets the counters 92 and 94 and restoresthe circuits for reception of the next character in conjunction withanother cycle of operation as outlined above. The reset signal is alsosent to the head selector 90. Output lead 115 is also applied to acathode follower lockout 112 which also has an input lead 114 and anoutput lead called the stop signal generator t0 the output multiplexer12.

Some of the details of the head selector 90 are shown in FIG. 9 andinclude the odd and even multi-level stepping switches 85-0 and 85-Erespectively. One level of each switch is used to sequentially connectone of the reading heads at a time of the transmission tracks to thesingle read head amplifier 99. The output of this amplifier serves, inthe manner described, as the input to the shift register 102 in theoutput multiplexer. Other levels (not shown) of the stepping switchesare arranged in a well known manner to indicate by a binary code theparticular head that is reading. An odd gate 116, FIG. 9, and an evengate 117 alternately gate the wiper levels shown ofthe stepping switchesto the amplifier 99. Clock pulses from the main drum revolution clock44d are fed to a counter 118 which operates as a 3-bit sealer and forevery third revolution the output controls a relay puller 119 which inturn operates the step magnet SM of the even switch SS-E. The counteroutput is also fed to an inverter 121 which controls through relaypuller 122 the step magnet SM of the odd switch -0. The inverter 121also gates the odd gate 116 and the output of counter 118 also controlsthe even gate 117.

The operation of counter 118, gates 116 and 117 and switches 85 are suchthat during even numbered revolutions of the drum the even gate is openand the A level wiper of the even switch is connected to the amplifier99, and during this interval the odd switch is stepped. Then the A levelwiper of the odd switch is connected to the amplifier for the followingodd numbered revolution of the drum, and during this revolution the evenswitch is stepped. The stepping switches 85 are of the spring driventype which step when the magnets are deenergized.

Time out condition If desired, the query drum 34 may have eightadditional tracks which would function in the same manner as the idlecount track C, D and E which has a maximum count of eight. With theeight additional tracks a count of 256 would be possible. Accordinglyany period between dialed digits lasting for more than 256 revolutionswould result in the maximum count of 256 being reached. When thismaximum count is reached, bits would be put into the T track and the Wtrack for that subscriber. This will act as a fifth digit dialing andcause a dial again orl like signal to be sent to this particularsubscriber.

Audio system Operation In a modification of the present invention anaudible answer to a keyset or dialed query is obtained, setting forth,for example, the bid, asked, last sale etc. details of the particularstock queried. In this case the answer is assembled from a series or setof prerecorded words or phrases that are combined under the control of astorage drum containing the up-to-date stock information.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically shows some of the elements and circuits of theaudio arrangement, and some of the units thereof, as will appear, aresimilar and function in the same manner as those employed and describedin the preferred embodiment of the invention. In the audio system aso-called audio drum 126 is employed having a number of selectabletracks, say 32, with each track having magnetically or suitably recordedthereon a single word. Each Word on the tracks begin at a common axialline on the drum and each track has its respective readout head.Obviously, other types of recording could be employed, such asphotoelectric with photocell scanning, as well as various types ofstorage means such as discs.

The separate outputs from the readout heads of the audio drum are calledaudio lines and the lines to the various querying subscribers arearranged to be selectively and successively connected to one audio lineat a time in such a sequence that each querying subscriber receives amessage represented by the particular number dialed. Thus, the messagethat is sent to a particular subscriber is assembled from the separatewords recorded in individual word tracks on the audio drum.

As shown in FIG. 4, each subscribers answer line pair 127 is coupledthrough an individual transformer 123 and a set of well known type5-stage transfer relay tree arrangements 129 to all the audio lines 125.The operation of the relays of the five stages determines the particularaudio line connected at any one time to a subscriber. Associated witheach relay tree 129 is a relay puller 131 having a thyratron lockingcircuit which in turn is associated with a specific stage of shiftregister 132 of conventional design.

The audio system of FIG. 4 employs a main storage drum 144 withtransmission tracks 144b and an associated head selector 190, and theseunits are similar to and operate to find a specific storage to load in aparticular subscribers transmission bin in response to a dial query inthe same manner as the drum 44, transmission tracks 44b and headselector 90, respectively, of the previously described teletypewritersignal system. The storage drum 144 rotates several times faster thanthe audio drum 126 and each of the transmission tracks 144b has fivebits for a particular subscriber evenly distributed around the peripheryof the drum. The head selector 190 through a gate 135 connects one ofthe transmission track reading heads at a time to the shift register132. Let it be assumed that a reading head is reading the first fth of atrack for the first time, and as it does this the serial outputtherefrom is put into the shift register 132. At the completion of thisfifth of a revolution the counter 133 operated by the drum clock track134 pulses the shift register and causes the settings of the individualdigit registers or stages thereof to be shifted parallelly to the relaypullers 131. Thus the relay pullers 131 are brought into action inaccordance with the bits just read by the particular reading headconnected at this time to the shift register 132.

A stepping switch 136 is also operated by the counter 133 and it appliesa ground over one of the five conductors 137 at a time to all the relays129 of a particular stage. For the assumed condition the ground from thestepping switch will be applied to all the relays in the first stage atthe time the relay pullers 131 are first operated, and accordingly theserelays of the first stage will be operated in accordance with theoperation of the relay pullers. The counter 133 also controls the gate135 in such a manner that a selected reading head reads successivefifths of a track every other revolution of the main storage drum 144.Thus to read all of a given transmission track requires ten revolutionsof the drum. As the second fifth of a selected track is read and thisoutput put into the shift register 132, the relay pullers 131 are againoperated accordingly and at this time the relays 129 of the secondstages are grounded by the stepping switch 136. Thus the relays of thesecond stage will be operated in accordance with the bits on the secondfifth of the selected track. In a like manner the relays 129 of thethird, fourth and fifth stages are operated in accordance with the bitsof the third, fourth, and fifth fifths respectively of the selectedtransmission tracks. Thus after ten revolutions of the drum 144 eachsubscriber receiving a message will be connected through the five statesof its respective relay tree 129 to a selected one of the audio lines125. Soon thereafter the readout heads of the audio drum 126 will startreading the words in the tracks thereof and one or another of thesewords will be transmitted to each subscriber that is receiving a reply.The word transmitted to a particular subscriber may be the first, last,or any other word of the answer depending upon what part of a particularmessage it represents.

The thyratrons in the locking circuits associated with the relay pullers131 .are extinguished momentarily by well known circuitry before everyparallel shift from the shift register. Also, each of the relays 129 hasa conventional type holding circuit to hold the selected ones operatedwhen their oper-ating circuits are interrupted. After a word has beentransmitted to the subscribers, the relay holding circuits areinterrupted to reset the relays to normal.

The main storage drum 144 and the audio drum 126 may rotate at differentspeeds and the former may, for example, rotate at r.p.s. and the latterat a slower speed of, say, 1.5 r.p.s. Thus the audio drum would make onerevolution in 0.66 second and the words recorded thereon wouldpreferably be approximately or slightly less than 0.3 second long orrequire approximately one-half revolution of the drum to be read.Furthermore, the phase relationship between the two drums is such thatjust after the main drum has completed its ten revolutions and thevarious subscribers are connected to the selected audio lines, thereading heads of the audio lines are at the starting point for all thewords recorded thereon. With the above speed relationship thetransmission time of a word to the subscriber is equal to that requiredfor the main drum to make ten revolutions and for these next tenrevolutions of the main drum there is no transmission from the maindrum. This stopped transmission time is effected by the gate ascontrolled by the counter 133, and during this time the head selectormay operate to select another transmission track head. Thus the timerequired for one word selection and transmission is twenty revolutionsof the main drum or 0.67 second.

While the audio drum 126 is completing the latter half of its revolutionor during the third ten revolutions of the main drum, the five stages ofthe relay trees 129 are reset to again connect the audio lines to thesubscribed in accordance with the second words to be transmitted in thesame manner as set forth above, and these selections and transmissionscontinue as long as there are messages for the subscribers. Obviously,the messages to all the subscribers need not start at the same time, asthe time of starting and stopping the transmission of a message to asubscriber is governed by the condition of the subscribers storage bin,and as in the preferred embodiment the condition of one subscribers binis independent of the condition of the others.

In the above description of the invention, both in its preferred andmodified forms, the inputs to the system were from dial operated meansat the subscribers stations. However, if desired, the input couldequally well be generated by well known types of keysets. In such casesa stepping switch could be employed to cause the query signals to beserially transmitted to the central equipment with the central equipmentalso starting the stepping switch. Thus all queries would besynchronized to start transmission at a given period.

From the above explanatory description of the preferred and modifiedembodiment of the present invention, it will be evident that the presentinvention provides a novel and improved query storage system that isextremely fast and flexible in operation; that requires a minimum ofcommon equipment at the central storage location and also for eachsubscriber both at the central station and at the subscribers station;that can be easily and readily adapted to serve a different number ofsubscribers up to a predetermined number and wherein the waiting ordelay time for any one subscriber to receive a reply to its query is aminimum. It will also be evident that the present invention is in nomanner limited to stock quotation data storage systems but may readilybe applied to other inventory query systems, and it is desired that onlysuch limitations be placed on the present invention as are imposed bythe appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a query and reply system, a central station, a plurality of remotestations, individual signal channels between said remote stations andsaid central station, an audio storage device at said central stationcontaining a series of prerecorded audible sounds, memory means at saidcentral station identifying information relating to a plurality ofdifferent items about which queries may be made, means at said remotestations for transmitting over respective signal channels to saidcentral station query pulses corresponding to said items, means at saidcentral station to sample sequentially all of said signal channels andto register the sampled query pulses in storages assigned to therespective remote stations, an audio signal responsive device at each ofsaid remote stations, means including said memory means for assemblingan answer to each completed query, and output means responsive to theassembled answers for transmitting simultaneously to said remotestations individual sounds from said audio storage device indicative ofinformation pertaining to queried items.

2. Distribution apparatus for distributing spoken sounds selectively toa plurality of voice communication lines in accordance withcorresponding control signals of the type comprising a series ofelements consisting of at least rst and second permuted intelligencepulses, said apparatus comprising: data storage means for said controlsignals including a plurality of individual storage bins arranged ingroups, data transfer means for loading said control signals in saidstorage means with said first and second pulses being stored inpredetermined positions; multiplexing means for scanning said datastorage means in sequential cycles; said multiplexing means includingmeans to scan the bins of one group during one cycle, thereby to senseall of the pulse elements assigned to that group, and similarly to scanthe bins of succeeding groups during successive cycles; audio storagemeans having stored therein a plurality of audible sound signals,reproduce means operable with said audio storage means to developelectrical signals corresponding to all of said stored sound signals,and switching means under the control of said multiplexing means forselectively directing said electrical signals simultaneously to saidcommunication lines.

3. Apparatus for controlling the distribution of spoken words or thelike to a plurality of lines, comprising, in combination, first storagemeans carrying a series of different audible sounds suitable forcombining into word messages, a series of read-out devices operable withsaid first storage means to produce electrical signals corresponding tosaid sounds, second storage means adapted to carry control signals forselecting sounds from said first storage means, said second storagemeans being provided with separate sections for the individual controlsignals corresponding to respective portions of the messages to betransmitted over said lines, sensing means operable to read said storagesections in sequential order in conformance with the order of themessage, and switching means for sequentially coupling any one of saidplurality of lines to a corresponding series of the signals generated bysaid read-out devices in accordance with the control data readsequentially from said storage sections.

4. Apparatus for controlling the distribution of spoken messages or thelike to a plurality of lines, comprising, in combination, continuouslyoperating reproducing means having recorded thereon a plurality ofdierent audible sounds, a plurality of read-out devices operable withsaid reproducing means to develop electrical signals corresponding toall of said sounds simultaneously and repetitively, a data storage meansadapted to carry control signals for selecting audible sounds from thosestored in said reproducing means, sensing means operable to read saidcontrol signals in sequential order in conformance with the order of themessages to be sent out over said lines, and switching means operable bysaid control signals for coupling any of said lines to the signalsgenerated by any read-out device during any one operating cycle of saidreproducing means so that said lines will receive simultaneously therespective sounds intended therefor, said switching means being operableto couple said lines to the signals generated by other of said readoutdevices during subsequent cycles of said reproducing means as requiredby the further control signals read from said data storage means,whereby different messages are transmitted simultaneously, one sound ata time, to corresponding lines.

5. Apparatus for controlling the distribution of audible messages andthe like to a plurality of lines in such a Way as to providesimultaneous transmission of different messages to said lines; saidapparatus comprising, in combination, a cyclically-operated firststorage means having recorded thereon a group of different sounds fromwhich the messages are to be composed, a series of read-out devicesoperable with said first storage means to produce electrical signalscorresponding to all of said sounds simultaneously, each of saidelectrical signals thereby being available to be sent out over one ormore of said lines, second cyclically-operated storage means adapted tocarry control signals for selecting sounds from said first storagemeans, said second storage means being provided With a plurality ofseparate recording tracks with each track adapted to carry the controlsignals corresponding to one sound for each of said lines, sensing meansoperable to scan said recording tracks sequentially, and switchinglmeans for coupling each of said lines to a corresponding series of thesignals generated by said read-out devices to transmit over each line acorresponding series of sounds represented by the particular controlsignals for that line as read from said recording tracks by thesequential operation of said sensing means.

6. Apparatus for controlling the distribution of word messages and thelike to a plurality of lines in such a way as to permit differentmessages to be sent simultaneously to all of said lines from a commonsource of audible sounds; said apparatus comprising, in combination,first rotatable storage means having recorded thereon a group ofdifferent audible sounds from which the messages are to `be composed,each sound being carried on a corresponding track about said storagemeans, a pick-up head for each track of said first storage means toproduce electrical signals corresponding to all of said soundssimultaneously, each of said electrical signals thereby being availableto be sent out over one or more of said lines, second rotatable storagemeans adapted to carry control signals for selecting sounds from saidfirst storage means, said second storage means being provided with aplurality of separate recording tracks, means for applying to each trackof said second storage means control signals corresponding to one soundfor each of said lines, a read-out head for each track of said secondstorage means, stepping switch means for making connection to each ofsaid read-out heads in sequential order, register means to receive thedata read out from said second storage means, and circuit means underthe control of said register means for sequentially coupling each ofsaid lines to a corresponding series of the signals generated by saidpick-up heads, said circuit means transmitting over each line aparticular sequence of sounds represented by the particular sequence ofcontrol signals for that line as read from the recording tracks of saidsecond storage means by the sequential operation of said stepping switchmeans.

7. Apparatus for sending a word message to a sound transducing devicesuch as the earpiece of a telephone, comprising in combination, firststorage means carrying a group of different .audible sounds from whichthe word message is to be composed, sensing means for said first storagemeans to produce electrical signals corresponding to said sounds, secondstorage means adapted to carry control signals for selecting sounds fromsaid rst storage means, said second storage means being provided with aplurality of separate storage sections, means for applying to eachsection of said second storage means control signals corresponding to arespective portion of the message for said sound transducing device,read-out means for said second storage means, sequencing means operablewith said read-out means to scan said storage sections in predeterminedorder, register means to receive the data read out from said secondstorage means, and circuit means under the control of said registermeans for sequentially coupling said sound transducing device to aseries of said electrical signals to feed to said transducing device theseries of sounds represented by the control signals read from thesuccessive recording sections of said second cyclically-operable storagemeans by the operation of said sequencing means.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein said second storage meanscomprises a rotating member having a plurality of recording tracks, saidsequencing means including means to pick up signals from successivetracks of said second storage means in order to compose the message forsaid sound transducer.

9. An electrical query and reply system comprising a central station, aplurality of remote stations, individual signal transmission circuitsconnecting each of said remote stations to said central station fortransmitting to said central station query messages comprising a numberof pulses; first means at said central station including means forscanning all of the incoming query messages; storage means at saidcentral station for assembling complete query messages from the signalsscanned by said first means; data processing means operable with saidstorage means to produce an output signal corresponding to eachassembled query message; second means coupled to said data processingmeans and responsive to said output signals, audio storage means havingstored therein a series of audible sounds, and distributing means underthe control of said second means and operable with said audio storagemeans for assembling reply signals in the form of particular groups ofaudible sounds in accordance with said output signals, said distributingmeans including means for directing the messages selectively andsimultaneously to a plurality of output circuits each connected to oneof said remote stations.

10. An electrical query and reply system comprising a central station, aplurality of remote stations, signal transmission circuits connectingsaid remote stations to said central station for transmitting to saidcentral station query messages comprising a number of signal pulses;first means at said central station incl-uding means for receiving allof the incoming query message signals simultaneously; storage means atsaid central station for assembling complete query messages from thesignals received by said first means; data processing means connected tosaid storage means and operable with the stored query message signals toproduce a group of output signals corresponding to each assembled querymessage; memory means forming part of said data processing means andhaving stored therein information respecting items about which queriesmay be made at said remote stations, said memory means including meansAfor updating the stored information to maintain it current with certainpredetermined related events; second means coupled to said dataprocessing means and responsive to said output signals for controllingthe development of reply messages; audio storage means having storedtherein a plurality of prerecorded audible sounds 1for generating therequired reply messages; and output means under the control of saidsecond means and operable with said a-udio storage means for assemblingreply messages in the form of groups f spoken words with each replymessage group including sounds selected from said audio storage means ina sequence determined by the output signal group developed by said dataprocessing means in response to a particular query message; said outputmeans further including means adapted to direct reply messages`selectively and simultaneously to the remote stations which originatedthe corresponding query messages.

1l. An electrical query and voice reply system comprising a centralstation and at least one remote station, said remote station including asound transducing device responsive to audio frequency electricalsignals; transmission means for carrying query and reply message signalsbetween said remote station and said central station; first storagemeans at said central station for receiving and assembling incomingquery message signals; data processing means at said central stationincluding second storage means having revisable recorded signalsrepresenting information about which query messages may be transmittedby said remote station; said data processing means further includingmeans responsive to assembled query messages and operable to produce foreach such query message a group of data signals developed from saiddevisable recorded signals; third storage means including memory meanshaving prerecorded therein a plurality of signals representing differentaudible sounds from which a spoken message can be assembled; read-outImeans for said third storage means; switching means coupled to saidread-out means to select signals from said third storage means inaccordance with the character of the data signals derived by saidprocessing means; said switching means including means responsive toeach group of said data signals and operable thereby to develop asequential series of electrical signals corresponding to the selectedsequence of said prerecorded audible sounds identified by the respectivegroup of data signals; and output circuit means responsive to saidelectrical signals for directing through said transmission means to thesound transducing device of the originating remote station audio signalscorresponding to the selected sequence of audible sounds, thereby toproduce at said transducing device a composite spoken message in answerto the original query.

12. An electrical query and voice reply system comprising a centralstation and at least one remote station, said remote station including asound transducing device responsive to audio frequency electricalsignals; transmission means for carrying query and reply message signalsbetween said remote station and said central station; rst storage meansat said central station for receiving and assembling incoming querymessage signals; data processing means at said central station includingsecond storage means having revisable recorded signals representinginformation about which query messages may be transmitted by said remotestation; said data processing means further including means responsiveto assembled query messages and operable to produce for each such querymessage a group of data signals developed from said revisable recordedsignals; third storage means including continuously operating cyclicalmemory means having a plurality of segments carrying prerecorded signalsrepresenting different audible sounds from which a spoken message can beassembled; a plurality of read-out means each operatively associatedwith one of the segments of said rotating memory means to producecontinuously in periodic cycles a simultaneous plurality of read-outsignals corresponding to said different audible sounds; switching meanshaving a plurality of input terminals and at least one output terminal;said input terminals being coupled to said read-out means respectively;said switching means including means responsive to a group of said datasignals and operable thereby to develop on said output terminal asequential series of electrical signals derived from said read-outsignals and corresponding to a selected sequence of said prerecordedaudible sounds as identified by the group of data signals; and outputcircuit means coupled to said output terminal and responsive to saidelectrical signals for directing through said transmission means to thesound transducing device of the originating remote station audio outputsignals corresponding to the selected sequence of audible sounds,thereby to produce at said transducing device a composite spoken messagein answer to the original query.

13. An electrical query and voice reply system comprising a centralstation and a plurality of remote stations, each of said remote stationsincluding a sound transducing device responsive to audio frequencyelectrical signals; transmission means for carrying query and replymessage signals between said remote stations and said central station;first storage means at said central station for receiving and assemblingincoming query message signals; data processing means at said centralstation including second storage means having revisable recorded signalsrepresenting information about which query messages may be transmittedby said remote stations; said data processing means further includingmeans responsive to assembled query messages and operable to produce foreach such query message a group of data signals developed from saidrevisable recorded signals, each such group consisting of a number ofsequential sets of data, each set identifying a particular audiblesound; third storage means for temporarily storing the data signals 21developed by said processing means, said third storage means having aplurality of sections each adapted to store one complete group of saiddata signals for a corresponding remote station; continuously operatingcyclical memory means having a plurality of record segments carryingprerecorded signals representing different audible sounds from which aspoken message can be assembled; a plurality of read-out means eachoperatively associated with one of the segments of said cyclical memorymeans to produce in periodicl cycles a simultaneous plurality ofread-out signals corresponding to said diierent audible sounds;switching means having a plurality of input and output terminals; eachof said input terminals being coupled to one of said read-out means;said switching means including register means adapted to store at anyone time one set of said data signals for each remote station; saidregister means being operable to control the switch interconnections inaccordance with the stored data signals to produce on said outputterminals respective electrical signals derived from said read-outsignals and corresponding to the audible sounds identied by therespective sets of data signals in said register means; means operableonce each cycle of said cyclical memory means to transfer from saidthird storage means to said register means the sets of data signalswhich occur next in the sequential series of data for any of said remotestations; and output circuit means coupled to said switching meansoutput terminals and responsive to said electrical signals for directingthrough said transmission means to the sound transducing devices of theoriginating remote stations audio output signals corresponding to theselected sequence of audible sounds identified by the respective groupsof data signals, thereby to produce at said transducing devicescomposite spoken messages in answer to the original queries.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said third storage meanscomprises a continuously rotating memory means having a plurality ofbands each adapted to carry a set of said data signals for each remotestation, and means operable with said transfer means to read out each ofsaid bands in sequence into said register means to establishsequentially the switch interconnections for the corresponding sets ofdata signals.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said cyclical memory meanscomprises a second continuously rotating memory means, said two rotatingmemory means having relative rotational speeds such that said iirstrotating memory means rotates an integral number of times for eachrotation of said second rotating memory means.

16. In a query and reply system, a central station, a plurality ofremote stations, signal transmission means connected between said remotestations and said central station, an audio signal storage device atsaid central station containing a series of prerecorded audio signalsrepresenting audible sounds, memory means at said central stationidentifying information relating to a plurality of different items aboutwhich queries may be made, means at said remote stations fortransmitting over said transmission means to said central station querysignals corresponding to said items, means at said central stationincluding said memory means responsive to said query signals forassembling an answer to each completed query, output means responsive tothe assembled answers for transmitting to said remote stationsindividual audio signals from said audio signal storage deviceindicative of information pertaining to queried items, and means at eachof said remote stations responsive to said transmitted audio signals forproducing audible sounds corresponding thereto.

17. An electrical query and voice reply system comprising a centralstation and a plurality of remote stations each including a soundtransducing device responsive to audio frequency electrical signals;transmission means for carrying query and reply message signals betweensaid remote stations and said central station; rst data storage means atsaid central station for receiving and assembling incoming query messagesignals; data processing means at said central station including seconddata storage means having revisable recorded signals representinginformation about which query messages may be transmitted by said remotestations; said data processing means further including means responsiveto assembled query messages and operable to produce for each such querymessage a group of data signals developed from said revisable recordedsignals; third storage means including continuously operating cyclicalmemory means having a plurality of segments carrying prerecorded signalsrepresenting different audible sounds from which a spoken message can beassembled; a plurality of read-out means each operatively associatedwith a respective one of the segments of said memory means to produce inperiodic cycles a simultaneeous plurality of read-out signalscorresponding to said different audible sounds; switching means having aplurality of input terminals and output terminals; said input terminalsbeing coupled to said read-out means respectively; said switching meansincluding means responsive to a group of said data signals and operablethereby to develop on any of said output terminals a sequential seriesof electrical signals derived from said read-out signals andcorresponding to a selected sequence of said prerecorded audible soundsas identified by the selected group of data signals; and output circuitmeans coupled to said output terminals and responsive to said electricalsignals for directing through said transmission means to the soundtransducing devices of the originating remote stations audio outputsignals corresponding to the selected sequence of audible sounds,thereby to produce at the transducing device a composite spoken messagein answer to the original query.

No references cited.

ROBERT H. ROSE, Primary Examiner.

1. IN A QUERY AND REPLY SYSTEM, A CENTRAL STATION, A PLURALITY OF REMOTESTATIONS, INDIVIDUAL SIGNAL CHANNELS BETWEEN SAID REMOTE STATIONS ANDSAID CENTRAL STATION, AN AUDIO STORAGE DEVICE AT SAID CENTRAL STATIONCONTAINING A SERIES OF PRERECORDED AUDIBLE SOUNDS, MEMORY MEANS AT SAIDCENTRAL STATION IDENTIFYING INFORMATION RELATING TO A PLURALITY OFDIFFERENT ITEMS ABOUT WHICH QUERIES MAY BE MADE, MEANS AT SAID REMOTESTATIONS FOR TRANSMITTING OVER RESPECTIVE SIGNAL CHANNELS TO SAIDCENTRAL STATION QUERY PULSES CORRESPONDING TO SAID ITEMS, MEANS AT SAIDCENTRAL STATION TO SAMPLE SEQUENTIALLY ALL OF SAID SIGNAL CHANNELS ANDTO REGISTER THE SAMPLED QUERY PULSES IN STORAGES ASSIGNED TO THERESPECTIVE REMOTE STATIONS, AN AUDIO SIGNAL RESPONSIVE DEVICE AT EACH OFSAID REMOTE STATIONS, MEANS INCLUDING SAID MEMORY MEANS FOR ASSEMBLINGAN ANSWER TO EACH COMPLETED QUERY, AND OUTPUT MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THEASSEMBLED ANSWERS FOR TRANSMITTING SIMULTANEOUSLY TO SAID REMOTESTATIONS INDIVIDUAL SOUNDS FROM SAID AUDIO STORAGE DEVICE INDICATIVE OFINFORMATION PERTAINING TO QUERIED ITEMS.